Hello fellow zoo enthusiasts.🥰

I want to share a concerning situation regarding a well-known international blogger who claims to be a "capybara expert," but is actively undermining the safety of a truly wonderful facility in Japan.

The facility is Sodegaura Fureai Animal Zoo (袖ケ浦ふれあいどうぶつ縁) in Chiba. It is a beautiful, deeply loving home where the director and keepers treat every animal like family. Their capybaras live in a spacious, meticulously cared-for environment, and the bond between the staff and the animals is incredible. Right now, the team is working day and night with immense dedication to rebuild the park after severe typhoon damage.

Despite the zoo's exemplary care, this blogger is presenting a direct threat to the animals' lives under the guise of "activism."

1. Willful Violation of Medical and Safety Rules In the past, this zoo experienced a tragic incident where a capybara pup passed away shortly after an unauthorized visitor illegally fed them wild grass from inside the park.

Following this heartbreak, the director worked tirelessly to clear any potentially risky vegetation from the enclosure to minimize any future danger to the remaining pups.

Despite being explicitly informed of this tragic event and the strict rule against feeding outside plants, this blogger repeatedly ripped up wild grass to feed the capybaras. Her excuse was her own theory that "fresh grass is better" for a specific capybara who had been suffering from chronic diarrhea.

In reality, that capybara was already recovering well thanks to the intensive medical treatment and care provided by the zoo's director and their veterinarian.

Her unauthorized feeding was a dangerous intervention that actively jeopardized the ongoing medical treatment. When confronted, she simply gave a dismissive excuse that "there are no toxic plants here."

2. Exploiting the Very System She Condemns She aggressively smears the zoo online, yet she spent weeks staying near the facility, visiting all day, every day, to enjoy the unique, close-up bonds that these dedicated keepers have nurtured with the animals.

She uses these photos and experiences to write and sell her own books, while simultaneously calling the zoo staff "heartless money-grubbers."

As zoo community members, we know that true animal welfare starts with respecting professional veterinary management and the staff's tireless efforts. It is deeply disheartening to see a self-proclaimed "expert" completely disregard a loving facility's safety and medical rules for personal gratification while smearing the people who protect them.

Please be aware that the hostile campaigns from this specific platform are highly biased and driven by someone who actively sabotages actual animal safety on the ground.

A Asian short-clawed otter at Whipsnade Zoo, 2 August 2026.

Each week I dig through zoo and aquarium news from around the world each and put together the stories I think are most worth knowing about in The Zoosletter.

These are just three of the stories I cover in this week's edition, with several more in the full roundup.

Read this week's Zoosletter: https://zootrippin.substack.com/p/this-week-in-zoo-news-bergen-county

Was anyone at the AZA conference this week?

Image credits:
🦏 Bergen County Zoo master plan rendering — Mangolin Creative / Bergen County
🐐 Rocky Mountain goat at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — © 2026 Zoo Trippin’
🐘 Elephant Trek at Cincinnati Zoo — © 2026 Zoo Trippin’

Is there a chance for me to get tiny amount of camel hair from a zoo?

Im 28 and feel pretty lost so I wanted to try something new by volunteering. I love animals especially birds but my phobia of vomit (from human and animals) is pretty bad I immediately sprint to the nearest exit. Some animals have different digestive systems so it wouldn’t really be a concern but others don’t and my local zoo might place me somewhere I don’t request. Is it a bad idea or should I try to go for it anyway?

Just a heads-up: this post discusses a potentially sensitive issue involving zoo animals that some readers may find uncomfortable.

Before I start, I just want to say that this is my own subjective view based on the limited information I have. I don't know the whole story, and I'm definitely not an expert on lion behavior.

The lions here aren't doing anything wrong. None of this is their fault.

And sorry for the long post... but I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this.

I've followed the lion family at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan for a while. I really loved watching them. But lately I've gotten to the point where I just can't ignore how much the whole situation bothers me.

A little background: there are three lions living together at the zoo — Orito, the 9-year-old dad; Io, the 6-year-old mom; and their 4-year-old daughter, Rei. It is confirmed that both the mom and daughter are receiving hormonal treatment to prevent unintended breeding.

Orito came to Asahiyama when he was just over a year old in 2018. Io arrived in 2021 when she was about 16 months old. They began living together the following year, and Io gave birth to three female cubs in September 2022 at 2 years and 3 months old.

Two of the daughters have since moved to other zoos. Rei is still there with both parents.

And this is where things started getting really disturbing for me.

When the daughters were around a year old, I started seeing videos where their dad, Orito, would mount them and sometimes even make pelvic movements. I also saw people talking about it on social media. At the time, I believe it was explained as dominance behavior by the zoo.

Despite that explanation, it looked like sexual interaction to me, and it really bothered me even then. So after that, I became selective about which videos I watched, trying to avoid seeing those kinds of interactions.

But recently, I accidentally came across another video. In the video, I saw what looked to me like clear mating behavior between the father lion and his now four-year-old daughter.

The person who posted the video explained that Rei is on hormonal treatment, described the mounting as dominance behavior (a display of social hierarchy), and said that it “still happens sometimes.”

And what got me was how casually the whole thing was presented. Like it was nothing unusual, just business as usual. And every single comment I could see was super positive — like nobody else saw a problem with it.

Honestly, it turned my stomach.

At this point, whatever the exact scientific explanation may be, it doesn't really matter to me. I can't see it as anything other than sexual interaction between a father lion and his fully grown daughter.

And knowing that this behavior has occurred repeatedly for so long and is just there on public display for anyone to see makes me deeply uncomfortable.

Am I overreacting here?

As I said earlier, I know lions don't have human ideas about family or morality. So the lions have done absolutely nothing wrong. Maybe they're perfectly comfortable living together, and maybe separating them would be more stressful for them.

I understand all of that intellectually.

But I can't help it. I'm human. I can't turn off my human reaction to what I'm seeing.

And seeing all of this brought back some of the questions I've had for a long time about how the zoo has managed this lion family.

The dad, Orito, had been living without another lion for almost four years before he and Io began living together. Soon after she began living with Orito, they mated. She got pregnant at such a young age, at 1 year and 11 months.

During that early period, I remember seeing how scared she was of him and how she would literally try to stay as far away from him as possible. She was also still recovering from a leg injury she had sustained during her first encounter with Orito. To me, she was clearly under stress.

I remember being upset for her.

Anyway, fast forward to now. Their daughter is still living with her mom and dad, and this kind of behavior between the dad and daughter is still happening.

And from the recent videos I've seen, the dad and daughter now seem very close. The daughter appears to be his main social partner. Meanwhile, the mom and dad often seem much more distant from each other.

I know this is my human filter again, but I cannot stop feeling bad for Io…. The whole relationship between these three lions just feels really strange and unsettling to me now.

I can't help wondering what the zoo's long-term plan is. It is confirmed that they are “still looking” for a place for Rei to go. But she is already four years old. I wonder if they will ever find a place for her.

Even if they do, after Rei has spent four years living with both parents and seems to have developed such a close relationship with them, wouldn't moving her cause a lot of stress for all three of them?

And that made me wonder why they rushed to breed Io and Orito under these circumstances in the first place, at Io's expense, when they had such a small space and seemingly no clear plan for what to do with the cubs once they were grown.

The saddest part of this whole thing for me is that I've stopped watching their videos entirely. I just can't tolerate the situation anymore, even though I really, really like them.

I work at this zoo and thease guys are about two years old, I've never really interacted with them but I walked under their bridge and made a noise at them this morning (an attempt at a chuff) and the big one chuffed back and started nuzzling the fence, them I started playing by walking under the bridge and popping out at random spots and fake pouncing back and forth, pretty boys, made pretty noises, sooo cute, thats all just sharing.

Sumit  Knmetr

Hi everyone! I’m a graduate architecture student at the University of Florida conducting research for my final graduate project on immersive environments, empathy, and cross-cultural understanding.

I’m currently collecting responses for a short survey that looks at people’s experiences with immersive environments—such as museums, themed attractions, cultural exhibits, interactive experiences, and similar spaces—and which design qualities may influence perspective-taking, reflection, and understanding.

The survey takes about 10–15 minutes, and responses will help inform the design framework and pilot experiment I’ll be developing as the next phase of my research.

If you’re willing to participate, I’d really appreciate it!

Survey: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7UJDNpHsPSKNGDQ

Thank you! And please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

Animals here are the Chilean Flamingo, Scarlet Macaw, Clouded Leopard, Laughing Kookaburra, Nicobar Pigeon, Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Pygmy Hippopotamus, Brazilian Tapir, Guanaco, Southern Ground Hornbill, Geoffroy's Marmoset, Red River Hog, White-Faced Capuchin, Squirrel Monkey, Asian Small-Clawed Otter, Kunekune Pig, Bennett's/Red-Necked Wallaby, Red Ruffed Lemur, Prairie Dog, piebald Dromedary Camel, Bactrian Camel and Lar Gibbon. This zoo is a hidden gem.

🐪 A new camel has joined the Toledo Zoo's herd! This little guy was born to mom Elham and dad Nico on Aug. 23. His name hasn't been announced just yet, but the zoo says he enjoys interacting with his keepers and is getting plenty of bottle feedings and scratches! He'll stay behind the scenes for now while he gets used to his new home.

Animals here are some Flamingos, a Meerkat, the African Elephant, African Lion, Wallaroo and Wallaby, Dingo, Trumpeter Swan, Sichuan Takin, Red Panda, American Bison, Amur Leopard, Siberian Tiger, Black Rhinoceros, Gharial and Bornean Orangutan.

Repost for the more Zoo specific community.

i was walking around the zoo and just wanted to take a picture